The land connects a state park and wildlife refuge and will now be open to the public.
More than 1,300 acres connecting a state forest and wildlife refuge in north central Massachusetts was recently conserved, and the land will now be open to the public.
The Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and Mass Audubon announced last week they have conserved 1,325 acres of forests, fields, and wetlands in the Massachusetts towns of Winchendon and Ashburnham.
The land connects to MassWildlife’s 1,500-acre Winchendon Springs Wildlife Management Area and DCR’s nearly 3,000-acre Ashburnham State Forest and will now be split between the two.
The land acquisition creates a continuous forest corridor that stretches north to Lake Monomonac and other protected lands in New Hampshire.
The property also features the headwaters of the Millers River, a tributary to the Connecticut River, and extensive forests and wetlands that preserve water quality in the river and nearby Sunset Lake.
Two-thirds of the property are considered to be critical for biodiversity, supporting both rare and common plants and animals, including five species that are listed by the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act.
